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Water sciences

• Starting point
  • Key online dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks
  • Key print dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks
• Catalogue searching
• Databases and journal articles
  • Key databases
• Key internet sites
  • Useful starters
  • Research organisations
  • Guidelines
  • Government
• Related resources
  • Environmental sciences
  • Chemistry

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  Resources by topic - Reference

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Starting point for water sciences

Starting point contains definitions, facts, figures and overviews

• Dictionaries help you to define your keywords
• Encyclopedias help you to get an overview of your topic and provide more information than a dictionary
• Handbooks and manuals provide figures and facts

Key online dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks

McGraw-Hill dictionary of environmental science	Dictionary of environmental science with many useful water related terms
Van Nostrand's encyclopedia of chemistry	A concise, comprehensive and accessible introduction to chemistry, contains extensive records on water and related topics
Dictionary of water and waste management	Covers the design, building and operation of plants for water treatment and supply as well as sewerage, wastewater treatment and solid waste treatment and disposal

Key print dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks

The drinking water dictionary
Encyclopedia of water science
Water encyclopedia

Use the catalogue to search for more dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks

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Catalogue searching

You can search the Library Catalogue to find books, DVDs, journals and other materials

If you know the exact title in the New catalogue

• At the search screen select a Title search
• Type in the exact title. You can use double quotes around phrases, for example, “room with a view”
• Link to online material or take note of the collection, call number and status to find items in the Library

If you are searching for a topic in the New catalogue

• Type in keywords from your topic to find catalogue records that contain all of your keywords
  For example,  +water +desalination
• Use + before a word to indicate that the word must be included
• Another way of doing this is to combine keywords with AND (the AND must be in upper case)
• If a keyword search gives you too many results, you could add another keyword with +
  For example, +water +desalination +australia

Truncation is generally not needed as entering any version of a word will retrieve many variations.

More information

• For more information select the catalogue Help button

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Databases and journal articles for water sciences

Use databases to search for journal articles, book chapters, conference papers or research reports

Key databases for water sciences

Databases	Notes	Help
Compendex	Bibliographic records of thousands of engineering journals, conferences and technical reports covering engineering and applied science research	Help and tips are available online from the search screens
WATERnetBASE	A collection books and journals about water and water science including an encyclopaedia of water	Simplified help available through the ‘how it works’ link
Web of science	Multidisciplinary information from over 8,000 research journals with cited reference searching	Help is available from any search screen within the database

Complete list of Water databases. Also check the multidisciplinary databases as they cover a wide range of academic topics. You can select other subjects from the database subject list

Full text not available?

When the full text is not available, search for the journal title in the Library catalogue to discover if print or online copies are available

Database search tips

• Define your topic and identify the main concepts involved
  For example purification household
  • Make a list of keywords for each concept
    For example
    purification treatment
    domestic household
    
  • Think about how you can combine these keywords in your search using OR, AND or NOT
    Keywords on the same concept combine with an OR
    Combine different concepts with an AND
    For example
    purification or treatment
    and
    domestic or household
    
  • Appropriate truncation symbols can be used in databases to find variations of a word, for example purif* finds purify, purification and so on

For help with searching databases see Connecting and Combining Search Terms or Truncation/Wildcards/Phrase searching: Basic or Online training or Ask the Library

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Key internet sites for water sciences

It is important to critically evaluate all information you find particularly information found on the web.

This is a starting list of internet sites. You may want to do your own searches using search engines

Useful starters

• UNESCO - water United Nations’ Education, Science and Cultural organisation, providing information about water with links to many international bodies
• Water structure and science Information about the chemical and physical properties of water from London South Bank University
• SAWater South Australian Water with information about usage, treatment, storm water and the environment

Research organisations

• SAWater centre for water management and reuse A University of South Australia research centre focused on water

• CSIRO - water Australia’s national science agencies’ site on their water research

• Water quality research Australia A collaborative research centre focusing on drinking water and waste water. The site includes links to CRC for Water Quality Research’s information

• Water footprint Information about world water usage administered by the University of Twente in the Netherlands, publication section contains full text articles and reports

• SCRIPS institute of oceanography International research centre for ocean and atmospheric science

Guidelines

• National Health and Medical Council Publications about water quality guidelines for Australia

• EPA Government guidelines for water from the United States of America

Government

• Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Australian Government department which develops and implements national policy, programs and legislation to protect and conserve Australia's natural environment and cultural heritage

• Natural Resources Management an Australian Government site that provides information about the implementation of the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality and the Natural Heritage Trust

• Geoscience Australia provides access to fundamental geospatial information about Australia and links to relevant websites

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For further information about any of these resources please contact the Ask the Library service or ask at the library desk

Coordinated by: ITEE Academic Library Services Team